MARIE CLAIRE – Aug 18 – A former scientist behind Match.com tells all. After spending a decade at Match.com and Yahoo Personals writing compatibility formulas, psychologist Mark Thompson had fallen out of love with his work.
Q: What made you leave e-dating?
A: I hated the way we overpromised and underdelivered. No computer can accurately predict whom you should be with.
Q: But isn't blind dating always hit or miss?
A: Yes, but you don't have to pay $30 a month to be set up by your friend. There's a different set of expectations. When diet companies show someone who lost a bunch of weight in six weeks, they have to say, "Results not typical." eHarmony and other sites should do the same.
Q: Do you think online dating can be fixed?
A: It really depends on people's willingness to come back and tell us why each date didn't work out so the system could get smarter.
Q: Your book is about finding love. Why did you call it Who Should You Have Sex With and not Who Should You Go Out With?
A: Because sex is a huge part of a relationship that people don't always focus on.
Q: But doesn't happiness have more to do with emotional compatibility?
A: Sexual compatibility is a keystone to a relationship's long-term success, and it requires three things: a similar emotional approach; a similar activity level; and a complementary power dynamic.
Q: How can we know if there's chemistry before we have sex?
A: People's public personas often correspond to their sexual personas.
The full article was originally published at Marie Claire, but is no longer available.
